I totally love making New Year’s resolutions…whether in my head or out loud, tormenting my family to go through the tradition of listing them with me. I know Im not going to accomplish half of them, but for me its sort of like making a to do list…it inspires me to give it a go. And if I’m lucky, the momentum of doing something new (and usually health/fitness related) carries me through (for a few months, at least).

This year the holidays were pretty hectic and didn’t have a single minute to “go there” in my brain. When I started to think about it today I realized that 2011 was a pretty good year and there are more things I’d like to continue doing than new things I’d like to start doing.

So here goes…my 7 New Year’s Continuations

1. Keep Becoming More of An Early Bird (as opposed to a Night Owl): More on this later, but I just do better when I am asleep at a decent hour every night.

2. Keep In Step: With regular walks. I love walking. I think I’ve tried every physical excercise routine under the sun, from running to P90X to yoga. And though variety is good, I love daily getting outside and just walking. I’m blessed with a great 1 mile loop right outside my door that I want to continue taking advantage of.

3. Keep Turning It Off: This is so hard for me, but I find when I turn my computer off from 2:30 to 6:00, the whole atmosphere in my house changes. Kids start coming home from the bus stop at 2:30 and there’s much to do…after school snacks and debriefing, homework, help with chores, making-eating-cleaning up dinner, etc. When I have the distraction of “just one more email” or “let me just finish this code”…it steals my attention from what really matters. Being disciplined to get my work done on time is worth the effort and one I want to strive to continue doing.

4. Keep Managing My Time, Rather Than The Other Way Around: I’m rather organized. If you ask me right now where the Scotch tape was, I’d tell you it was sure to be in the top left drawer of my cubical shelves in my office. My plastic containers are (usually) nested with the lids next to them. My clothes are arranged by color in my closet. Weird, I know. But, I have a real tendency to not be so organized with my time. I dont know if its motherhood or personality, but I find that more often than not, my time manages me rather than the other way around. Its a struggle, but I have found techniques like realistic daily to do lists, “grouping” (where you do similar tasks all at once…like writing blog posts, running errands, etc.) and knowing when to say “no”. My goal this year is to keep working hard at it until it becomes more natural…and if I find more tricks along the way I’ll be sure to share!

5. Keep Reading: I am a horrible reader and I’ve never been good at it…not that I can’t read, but I just dont enjoy it very much. But I love listening to books. Go ahead…call me old. But really, I’ve been loving my local library’s (Pima County Public Library) digital bookshelf. I can search, check out and download books for free and then listen on my iPhone or iPod. I’ve got plenty of time as Im walking or driving, since we live a million miles from everywhere. Its a great practice I plan to continue.

6. Keep Growing…Without Loosing Balance: I love stretching myself and trying new things. There are so many things I want to do and try, but have too many times gotten myself in over my head. I believe there’s a balance to be found between “doing” and “doing to much”. This year I want to keep finding that balance.

7. Just Keep Blogging: The term “The shoemaker’s children have no shoes” rings loudly in my ears when I look back and see huge (well…its all relative I guess…) lapses of time between posts. Truth is, helping people reach their bloggy hopes and dreams seems to regularly take precedence over my own little blog here. This year I want to keep working hard at doing what I love. I know it takes planning, creativity, a note pad to jot down ideas that pop in my head in the middle of the night. I’ve got lots of fun ideas and actually have posts scheduled through February (taking a few weeks off work will do that to a girl). And I’m sure attending Blissdom ’12 is going to spark more blog posty enthusiasm, so stay tuned (but forgive me if I fall of the band wagon every now and then ).

Your Turn: What are YOUR New Year’s resolutions/continuations?